July began on a cold note. As the orphans were waking up, Maxwell was already busy charging around his stockade, chasing after the resident warthogs. The warthogs were loitering around, waiting for the rhino’s fresh lucerne pellets to be laid out, as they have a standing date to share his meals. Max turned their waiting game into a warm-up exercise, as all the charging about warded off the morning chill!
It was a cold and gloomy morning as the orphans began to wake up. As the orphans were browsing around the stockade compound, Maxwell was busy charging around his stockade, chasing after the resident warthogs. The warthogs were all eagerly awaiting Max’s fresh Lucerne pellets to be laid out and indulge in some of them, but Max was using his game to keep warm as the morning slightly warmed up.
As he was busy charging around, Taabu and Bondeni kept trying to get his attention by pushing his gate and rumbling but Max was paying no attention to them. After several attempts, the duo gave up and then started chasing each other out to the forest, engaging one another in a wrestling match and chasing each throughout the stockade compound. They were immediately joined by Esoit who came barreling out of his stockade to charge after them.
Naleku has recently started this new habit of trumpeting loudly as she comes out of her stockade, although not every morning, she has been doing it more and more recently. She then proceeds to run around the stockade compound, checking that all the orphans are up and about. She of course went to check on Kerrio, who was already well on her way to the forest with Kindani. Naleku began to follow them, trumpeting and rumbling trying to get their attention and she was soon joined by Olorien who also began to trumpet. The rest of the Nursery herd were quick to follow, and they all settled down in the forest for the day.
Bondeni was in one of his mischievous moods again today and was being so stubborn with his Keepers during his midday milk feed. He kept charging beyond the cordon and running through the visitors, trying to play with them as he ran past. Whenever the Keepers would walk towards him, he would charge off and hide behind some of the bushes, now playing a game of hide and seek. Eventually they managed to sneak round him and usher back to the mud bath before he followed the other orphans back for the forest.
Contrary to the day before, it was a beautiful sunny afternoon when the orphans ran down to the mud bath for their 3 o’clock bottles of milk. It was so warm that after they downed their bottles some of them even got into the muddy pool. Suguroi was the first to jump in and she went straight to the middle where she submerged herself in the water. Roho was next to join her, and he immediately started to climb on her back and slip down. Oldepe grew very protective of Suguroi and charged into the mud, standing in front of her and blocking Roho. Failing to stop Roho, Oldepe then chose to join him and the three had the best time rolling around and climbing on each other’s backs.
It was another chilly morning as the orphans began their day. Most of the orphans were very quiet and just going about their morning routines, stealing greens from each other and greeting one another as they came out of their stables and stockades. Once in the forest, the whole herd stayed huddled together as they browsed and walked around. Huddling together is a great way for them to stay warm.
After their 9 o’clock milk feed the mood seemed to pick up a bit. Esoit and Roho started sizing each other up and engaged in a wrestling match. As they were wrestling, Bondeni and Taabu started chasing each other and playing a game of hide and seek. As the four boys were having the best time, the rest of the Nursery herd settled back down to browse but now breaking off into smaller groups.
Recently, Taabu and Choka have not been getting along as well as before, perhaps because Choka keeps pushing his luck with Taabu and not showing him the respect he deserves as his elder. The two boys keep scrapping like naughty siblings and the Keepers are constantly having to separate them and then usher them to different corners of the herd. It’s normal for the orphans to go through their different moods with another and as they figure this out the Keepers just have to be a bit more vigilant with them.
Tingai has always been a quiet and shy bull, he will often keep his distance from the rest of the Nursery herd, especially when the orphans are being full of excitement and wrestling one another. Out of comfort, the orphans will sometimes suckle on their trunks, much a like a human would a dummy, and Tingai is often seen wandering around with his trunk in his mouth. Today, surprisingly, out of nowhere he started picking on Latika. Latika is such a gentle and quiet girl that she didn’t expect this behaviour from him at all and neither did the Keepers. Every time Latika would walk by him or browse near him, he would try to push her over, eventually the Keepers had to intervene and chase him away. Tingai then spent most of his day amongst the bulls of the herd.
During the orphans’ midday milk feed, it was still too nippy despite the sun being out for the orphans to enjoy a mud bath so most of them just carried on browsing. Even Roho who loves his mud bath did not even want to test the waters, the only one brave enough was Naleku who kept standing on the edge and spraying the tiniest bit of muddy water on her to see if it had warmed up at all, but she too soon gave up.
As Naleku was walking around the mud bath to join the rest of the nursery herd, she misjudged one of the corners and ended up slipping into the muddy water, on her bum. As a result, she ended up thoroughly enjoying her mud bath, and splashing about on her own. Suguroi happily stood on the edge, watching her roll about, and flapping her ears about every time one of the orphans would approach her, a trait that is typical of her. Roho and Esoit eventually engaged each other in a wrestling match before dashing off back to the forest.
Esoit, Bondeni, and Roho all had a very busy day charging around the forest and wrestling one another. Esoit has always been such a gentle and happy bull since his arrival he has always been so friendly with the rest of the Nursery herd and Keepers. Since he was let out of his stockade, he did not give Roho one minute of peace and kept trying to charge after him and entice him into one of his games. Roho was happy to play with him and kept challenging the excited young bull. Occasionally, Roho would get a break when Bondeni decided to join their games and he would engage Esoit, chasing him around the forest.
Oldepe is quite a jealous bull, and he always appears to get frustrated when the other bulls are wrestling because he wants to join in too. Unfortunately, Oldepe is much bigger than the rest of the bulls and he doesn’t realise his own strength, so he can sometimes be a little rough with the smaller bulls. This morning, he made it his mission to chase Roho away from Esoit by standing right in front of Roho. At one point, Oldepe got so rough with Roho that the Keepers had to intervene and chase him away.
As the orphans were downing their 3 o’clock bottles of milk, Olorien was in another one of her bad moods and she kept trying to shove Esoit as he was trying to finish his bottle. Unfortunately, for Olorien, Kinyei was stood nearby, and this really upset her, and she immediately ran after Olorien, chasing her far away from the Nursery herd.
This afternoon, we received a new rescue from Buffalo Springs, a young male of three years who has been called Rafiki.
This morning as the orphans began their day and started to head off to the forest, Neshashi, Esoit and Bondeni decided to head off in their own direction. This, of course, was led by none other than Neshashi, who started leading Esoit and Bondeni away from the herd as they were all busy browsing. The Keepers saw them wandering off and decided to try and call them back but the only one who listened was Esoit, as he is not used to wandering off. A bit later on, one of the Keepers had to go and usher Bondeni and Neshashi back to the herd.
This afternoon as the orphans were all busy browsing in the forest, Kamili wandered off on her own to enjoy a peaceful dust bath not too far from the rest of the herd. She could be seen happily throwing dust over her head and back, and then kicking up the soil with her front legs. At one point, she even lay down and rolled around for a little bit. She came to join the rest of the herd when she heard the Keepers’ radios going off for the 3 o’clock milk feeding time.
Contrary to before, Oldepe is now getting the reputation of being a bit of a bully amongst the Nursery herd. Once again, he was focused on Roho and keeping him away from the rest of the herd. Every time Roho would come by some of the other orphans, Oldepe would shove him away and then follow him, pushing at him. Roho wasn’t too impressed with Oldepe’s behaviour so he just continued walking away until Oldepe eventually gave up.
Later in the morning, Kinyei was happily dust bathing just some way from the herd, when Oldepe came over to join her. Oldepe began to climb on Kinyei’s back and started to playfully push her. Kinyei was quick to react and began engaging him in a pushing game. Roho was seen looking over, and they caught his attention, so he came walking over. Roho didn’t engage either of them, but he enjoyed charging around as they played.
During the midday mud bath, Bondeni was being extremely disobedient, and the Keepers had such a hard time keeping him under control. He kept trying to charge through the visitors and tried to playfully grab them and elephant back kick them. Eventually, the Keepers, all surrounded him and then he finally decided to listen to them and calm down. He then turned his attention to his good friend Esoit, and the two had the best time chasing each other around the mud bath and challenging each other’s strength.
This morning all the orphans were busy greeting the newest arrival Rafiki, and the other newer rescue, Mageno. Naleku, Olorien, Kinyei, and Kindani were the first to head over there and greet them, and they were soon joined by Sagateisa, Suguroi, and Lodo, the gentle uncle. After a brief interaction, the Nursery herd then started to make their way out to the forest. Mzinga has been staying behind in her stable with her small neighbour as they both wait for the day to warm up. When it is warm enough, they are led out of their stables in their little blankets to head off to the forest.
Recently, Naleku has also become very naughty down at the mud bath during the orphans’ 3 o’clock milk feed. Unlike before, she has now started to push the rest of the Nursery herd apart from her favourite little girl Kerrio. She has almost become too protective of Kerrio as she is constantly protecting her from visitors as well as the rest of the orphans. As a result, the Keepers are now having to send her and Bondeni to the naughty corner and let them calm down before coming back to join the herd.
It was an extremely cold and quiet morning as the orphans were starting their day. It was so quiet that some of the orphans were very hesitant to enter the forest and wanted to remain within the stockade compound. Sileita, Tingai, Kamili, Latika, Mukutan, Sagateisa, Choka and Taabu were all standing on the edge of the forest, huddled together and reluctant to enter the forest. The bigger orphans, Naleku, Neshashi, Roho, Oldepe, Kindani, Kinyei, Olorien, Bondeni and Esoit, all walked straight out without any hesitation. After a couple of minutes and some ushering from the Keepers, the rest of the herd joined them.
Later in the morning, Ziwadi decided to wander off in her own direction to browse in some of her favourite spots. She was happily moving around, enjoying her greens and minding her own business, with one of the Keepers always keeping a watchful eye on her. Suddenly, Neshashi and Oldepe came walking over to keep her company. Oldepe even tried to entice Ziwadi to a wrestling match, but she flat out refused and even defended herself by pushing him away. Neshashi was quick to intervene as she engaged Oldepe in a wrestling match, leaving Ziwadi to her browsing once more.
This morning, Naleku, Olorien, and Esoit were all in very playful moods as they were chasing each other around the stockade compound all charging out to the forest. Once out in the forest, they started engaging each other in wrestling matches, testing each other’s strength. Their games continued for quite some time before Kerrio came over to join them. Esoit was not too happy with the arrival of little Kerrio as perhaps he now thought that Naleku would be too distracted or protective over her, so he decided to try and chase her away. Of course, this really upset Naleku who was now intervening and pushing him aside, protecting her little girl. Esoit quickly gave up and ran off to join Bondeni and some of the others.
Choka also appears to have adopted Oldepe’s bullyish ways. This afternoon as the orphans were running down for their midday bottles of milk, Choka and Taabu were running down in the same group and Taabu was taking the lead. The two bulls have been spatting more and more recently and as a result this started to aggravate Choka. Choka immediately started to push at Taabu and tried to block his path down to the milk feed, one of the Keepers had to quickly run after the boys to stop them from bickering and usher them both down to the milk feeding point.
Once the two bulls had finished their milk bottles and settled to browse on the fresh greens, Choka once again started to charge after Taabu, almost as though he was jealous. This time, however, Kerrio stepped in to protect Taabu and she began to push back at Choka. As the little girl is so protected, she quickly managed to chase Choka away. Fortunately, both these boys settled down once back in the forest and had a quiet evening of browsing.
Nairobi continues to be in the middle of its winter months and as a result most mornings have been quite nippy with the orphans enjoying sleeping in their beds of hay for longer, enjoying the warmth. This morning, some of Nursery herd were slower than others but they were all led out to the forest by Naleku, Neshashi, Roho, Oldepe, and Bondeni, with Neshashi eventually taking the lead.
As the orphans arrived in the forest, Neshashi paused and started to smell around. This caused the whole herd to stop and lift their trunks to smell what was around. The Keepers were on immediate high alert, as they were now trying to assist the orphans in seeing who might or might not be visiting them. After a couple of minutes, the Nursery herd even began to walk backwards, with their ears flared and trunks up. The Keepers then decided to go ahead of them to just carefully see what may have spooked the orphans. As the Keepers slowly inched forward, they suddenly found what the herd was smelling four: four very large Southern white rhinos all huddled together, sleeping in the forest.
The Keepers were cautious not to upset the rhinos, but they were slowly trying to usher the herd past them. With the Keepers moving forward, Esoit suddenly came barreling past the herd trumpeting and rumbling, with his ears flapping to scare off the rhinos. The two large females immediately woke up to see what was happening, and then they woke their calves before heading away from noisy Esoit, his herd, and Keepers. Esoit stood guard for some minutes, making sure they had left. The Keepers were so impressed by his bravery as it will do him well in the wild.
Mukutan continues to be the loudest member of the Nursery herd, but he remains very shy when it comes to wrestling matches and spending time with his Keepers. He certainly remains one of the greediest orphans in the Nursery herd, constantly pushing at his friends whilst they try to finish their milk bottles. Today, however, Mukutan was eager to engage Sagateisa in a wrestling match.
Throughout the day, he was following her around and playfully pushing at her to try and get her to wrestle with him. Sagateisa at first was very reluctant to engage him as she was too focused on her browse but as he continued to follow her around, she eventually agreed. Sagateisa is a very playful girl, and she grows more and more friendly as she settles into the Nursery herd. The duo was having such a great time chasing each other around the forest and sizing each other up.
In the afternoon, Mukutan ran down for his 3 o’clock bottle of milk with the naughty boys Esoit and Bondeni, who are both very fast. As a result, they were both quickly able to overtake him, and this caused a huge ruckus with Mukutan yelling out trying to catch up with them. He continued to yell right up until he got his bottle, and when he was done drinking, he tried to steal some of the spilt milk in the wheelbarrow before settling to browse.
Neshashi continues with her funny habit of waking up and dashing over to the translocation lorry once her stockade door is opened. She is constantly looking for any spilt lucerne pellets that may have been left behind by Roho or Oldepe. Most mornings, she goes on her own, but this morning she was followed by Lodo, who was curious to see what she was up to. Lodo didn’t seem to realise what she was up to as he just stood back watching her as she walked from stable to stable on the lorry. Eventually he grew bored of watching her and dashed off back to the forest where he joined the rest of the Nursery herd.
Neshashi remained behind for a couple of minutes before the Keeper ushered her out to the forest. As she was walking out, she came across Ziwadi, who was also still busy with her morning routine of drinking from all the water troughs while being ushered out by another Keeper. The two girls then walked together to join the rest of the herd.
Tingai did something really naughty during the midday mud bath when he pushed Kerrio, who was just trying to share his water trough with him. He pushed her away quite aggressively, so the little girl yelled out in protest, and it was not long before her personal protection came running over. First to respond was Kinyei who shoved Tingai away, chasing him off and Tingai was very quick to leave the area. Shortly after, Naleku and Kindani came over to see what had happened but as Kinyei had already sorted it out they all settled around Kerrio, protecting her.
After their milk feed the orphans then had a quiet afternoon of browsing in the forest.
As the orphans were settling back down in the forest, after their 9 o’clock milk feed. Ziwadi went wandering off with Kamili and Latika. Kamili and Latika tend to really enjoy spending time with Ziwadi as she is always so welcoming to them and doesn’t ever push them or tick them off, all three girls have very calm and gentle temperaments. Most days when Ziwadi wanders off on her own, she knows exactly where she is heading but today, she seemed to be relying on Latika and Kamili to lead but they both had no idea where they were heading. Eventually Ziwadi settled in a spot where the two girls also settled to browse.
When it was time for the orphans to run down for their midday bottles of milk, Kamili was quick to dash off to the rest of the herd, perhaps hoping she could run down first. Latika and Ziwadi, on the other hand, had to be ushered down by their Keepers.
As the orphans were arriving for their midday bottles of milk Sileita, who had already had her bottle, was being very sneaky. As soon as she finished her bottle of milk she went and stood towards the back of the mud bath, near where the other orphans were running in from. When the Keepers weren’t looking, she snuck back in the queue, hoping to get another bottle but the Keepers were to wise for her as they all knew she had already been down. The Keeper quickly ushered her out the way, allowing space for the next group.
After their 9 o’clock training on the translocation lorry, Neshashi, Roho and Oldepe went over to greet Maxwell, who was standing at his top gate, listening to all their commotion. All three of them were huddled at his gate, each reaching to nuzzle them with his trunk and greet the friendly boy. Max was so relaxed, and he was thoroughly enjoying their trunk hugs that he even fell asleep for a couple of minutes. After a couple of minutes of greeting one another, the Keepers ushered trainees back to the forest.
During the midday mud bath, Bondeni was enjoying mock charging some of the visitors and then dashing back to the centre of the mud bath. Since he always gets a reaction from the visitors, he absolutely adores all the attention, and therefore he continues to be so disobedient at the mud bath. Eventually some of the Keepers started standing along the rope line blocking his path and challenging him when he would try to charge the crowd. This eventually grew boring for Bondeni, and he settled back down to browse.
Esoit and Bondeni started their day full of beans, the two boys came barreling out of their stockades and immediately looked for one another. As they quickly found each other, they immediately started a game of cat and mouse around the stockade compound, as they waited for the Nursery herd to start heading out towards the forest. As soon as the herd started walking out, they chased each other out to the forest, bush bashing and trumpeting as they ran around.
Eventually, their game turned into a wrestling match as both boys didn’t want to give up and they were both showing off their strengths. Bondeni although slightly bigger in size, was not using his full strength against his friend, giving Esoit a fair chance. After a couple of minutes of pushing against one another, Esoit quickly did a 180 and then started running in the forest again, as Bondeni would get closer Esoit would sneakily give him an elephant back kick and then charge off again. They had the best time playing their games before settling to browse.
Unlike other days, this morning, Taabu and Choka were once again friends. Instead of waking up in a grump with each other, they were both excited and came running out of their stockades. As soon as they spotted each other, they were engaged in a wrestling match. Being of such similar size, neither of the bulls was victorious, as neither would give up. Their game eventually ended when the herd started walking out to the forest, as both bulls just went running off.
Although similar in size, these two boys are of very different personalities. Taabu is always so relaxed and calm, and he very rarely picks a fight with any of the other Nursery orphans, and he is always happy to hang out with his Keepers. Choka on the other hand is a feisty young bull, full of flare and he will often try to pick a fight with some of the orphans, pushing them around and sizing them up. Kerrio being of a similar size to these two bulls, can sometimes be at the receiving end of Choka’s feistiness.
Kerrio in addition, knows that she is very well protected amongst the Nursery herd, and she is often eager to push her luck. She too has been known to push some of the bulls around as she knows she can get away with it. Choka and Mukutan have been her main victims, so on occasion these boys do try to get even.
This morning was very overcast with some light drizzles, so the Keepers decided to leave the orphans within the warmth of their stables for a bit longer. Although it didn’t warm up very significantly, the Keepers eventually had to let the orphans out, as they needed to start their day of browsing. In addition, it is important for the orphans to learn how to move around and keep warm in these different weather conditions as they will not have stables and stockades in the wild but instead must seek cover under the trees. Despite really enjoying their browse there are still some orphans who do not enjoy the cold.
Tingai, on the other hand, was happy to start his day today as he quickly walked straight out of his stockade and started to make his way out to the forest. The Keepers were excited to see him being so confident as he is normally such a shy and quiet boy. He was quickly followed by Latika, Sileita, Kamili, Sagateisa, and Mukutan, who were all happy to head off to start their day. They all settled together to browse when the rest of the herd finally came out to join them.
The orphans had a very quiet day of browsing.
Naleku is one of the oldest females amongst the Nursery herd and she is the matriarch. Although she continues to be besotted with little Kerrio, today she was in one of her very playful moods and kept wanting to charge around the forest. As the orphans settled to browse in the forest, some jackals came running past, this immediately caught her attention. As soon as she saw the jackals, she went running after them, trumpeting, rumbling, and flapping her ears at them. The jackals were so fast, that she didn’t manage to catch up with them and they quickly disappeared. She then came charging back towards the Nursery herd, making so much noise.
Bondeni grew all excited watching her bush bash through the forest, that he too decided to join in on her fun and started to run around. The two were having the best time dash around but the other orphans such as Kerrio, Sileita, and Choka couldn’t figure out what was going on and they all seemed a little panicked that they went and stood near their Keepers. Eventually, Naleku and Bondeni settled down once more and then the rest of the herd calmed down once more. The orphans had a quiet rest of the day browsing.
Roho and Suguroi were in such a great mood today and this carried on throughout the day. It was a beautifully warm day compared to the last few weeks. When the orphans came down to the mud bath for their midday bottles of milk, it was warm enough for them to enjoy a mud bath. Suguroi and Roho were so quick to down their milk bottles and charge into the muddy pool. They were having the best time submerging themselves in the muddy water, rolling around, and Roho even began to playfully climb on her back, sliding off and climbing back up.
They were soon joined by Naleku, who lay right next to Suguroi and she was rolling about playfully near her. Roho was then trying to climb on both of them, rolling about near them and the two girls began to push against him as well as each other. They were causing such a splash as mud flew all over the mud bath. Even naughty Bondeni and Esoit decided to join them, and the mud bath was just filling up with elephant bellies as they all submerged themselves in the mud. After a well-deserved mud bath, the orphans were ushered back to the forest for the remainder of the afternoon.
Sadly, the weather cooled overnight, and it was once again another chilly day in the Nairobi National Park. As a result, the orphans were once again a little quiet as they slowly walked out to the forest together, all huddled up trying to keep warm. Once in the forest, the orphans all settled to browse near one another, with only your usuals such as Tingai, Ziwadi, and Neshashi moving away slightly to browse quietly in their own corners.
Kindani and Kinyei continue to be such close friends and will often enjoy some playful moments with each other when out in the forest. Today, they were busy dust bathing together and rolling around on the floor before heading off to look after some of the younger orphans together. They were busy watching over one of the youngest girls in the Nursery herd, little Mzinga. Mzinga has settled in well, as she is so young, she is continuing to gain condition and grow but she is being doteed upon by some of the older orphans, and all the love and attention she is getting is helping her settle in even more. She is also so close to her Keepers who have been with her every step of the way since her arrival.
Rafiki has also been settling in well and as a result the Keepers have let him come out and join the Nursery herd in the forest. The big boys Lodo, Roho and Oldepe all took an interest in him, sizing him up and checking out who he was when he got to the forest. They had a short interaction before leaving him be and all the orphans returned to their browse.
Bondeni was not impressed with his friend Esoit today. During their midday milk feed the two bulls engaged each other in a wrestling match but unlike other days, Esoit was being quite rough, testing his strength. He was pushing Bondeni all over, something which Bondeni did not enjoy so he quickly left their game and went over to browse on the fresh greens. Esoit tried to entice him to a new game but he had no interest as he didn’t want to partake in any strength testing matches.
As the orphans were settling back down in the forest after the midday milk feed, Kamili and Latika wandered off in their own direction to browse peacefully together. As they walked off, Taabu and Choka were enjoying a dust bath on one of the dust mounds nearby. The Keepers were happy to see the two boys getting along once more, rolling about and climbing on each other’s backs. Meanwhile, Tingai tried to sneak off on his own again, but one of the Keepers was staying close by so he didn’t manage to get very far.
Eventually, Kerrio decided to join Choka and Taabu, but Choka had other ideas, as he kept blocking her path. This turned into a pushing match as neither Kerrio nor Choka would back down, so they just started pushing at each other growing more and more frustrated. Kindani finally walked over and separated the two because they were both getting too agitated with each other, once separated they all settled back down to browse.
Maxwell was in a great mood today. He was up and about from 6am this morning and as the Keepers were getting ready to let the orphans out, he was already busy rolling around in his dust mound. All the Keepers could see was this big dust cloud coming from his stockade and he was having the best time. Around 7am he started pacing around his stockade, waiting for his lucerne pellets to be laid out and for his top gate to be open. By 8am he was feasting away on his pellets.
Taabu and Choka were once again in their playful moods. This afternoon, they were enjoying a game of tug of war over a branch that Taabu had picked up. It was such a delicious branch that neither of them wanted to give it up. They were pulling each other all around the forest both trying to munch on the branch as they pulled. Eventually, the branch broke, and they were both able to enjoy their piece.
It was another beautifully warm afternoon, and after the orphans downed their 3 o’clock bottles of milk they all charged into the mud bath, all but Ziwadi. Ziwadi has never really been one to enjoy her mud bath, she prefers to browse so the Keepers decided to give her a helping hand throwing some mud on her back and splashing her with water. She was all right for a few minutes, but she eventually moved further away so they could not reach her. Bondeni and Esoit came charging out the mud bath to chase the resident warthogs, who they chased all the way back to the forest before returning to browse once more.
Neshashi was in a very sneaky mood today. Every time the orphans would settle back down in the forest, she would try to sneak off to the translocation lorry to look for Lucerne pellets. A couple of times, she managed to get a couple of metres from the herd before the Keepers spotted her and ushered back to the group. After the midday milk feed, however, as the orphans were walking back to the forest she managed to hide and then run off to the stockade compound where she immediately climbed onto the lorry and started munching away on the leftover pellets. One of the Keepers came running after her, and as soon as she spotted him, she ran off the truck and started making her way back to the forest. The Keeper ushered her to where the orphans had settled to browse once more.
Sagateisa was in a very playful mood this afternoon, as the orphans were busy browsing, she went off to enjoy a dust bath. She was having the best time rolling around on the dust mound, throwing dust all over the place, creating a big dust cloud over her. As she was busy dust bathing, Roho and Esoit engaged each other in a wrestling match. The two bulls were busy for about half an hour pushing and chasing each other around the forest. They even started a game of hide and seek, scaring each other from behind some bushes and then dashing off, rumbling and trumpeting together.
It was a nice warm morning as the orphans were being let out of their stables and stockades. As it was warm enough, younger orphans such as Mzinga and her friends were being let out at the same time as the older orphans. All the older girls rushed over to greet the little girl and escort her out to the forest, being led by Naleku and then Olorien. Kerrio rushed to the front to join Naleku and lead the herd.
This afternoon, the big boy buffaloes wanted to join the orphans in their mud bath. Elephants and buffaloes have a love/hate relationship in the best of times, so some of the orphans were on high alert. Naleku, Oldepe, Roho, Neshashi, and Kamili all blocked the buffalo from getting any closer to the mud bath as they were not happy with their visitors. They all seen flapping their ears, rumbling and trumpeting at the big boys and not giving them an inch. Eventually the buffalo grew tired of trying and disappeared back into the forest.
Once the buffalo had disappeared, Kerrio and Bondeni enjoyed a dust bath on the dust mound. They were having such fun sliding down the hill and throwing dust all around. After a couple of minutes, they both stood up and the Nursery herd then made their way back to the forest for the remainder of the afternoon.
As the orphans settled down in the forest after their 9 o’clock milk feeds, Naleku, Olorien, Esoit and Kerrio all enjoyed a playful moment on the dust mound. As Olorien and Naleku were busy rolling around, Esoit was busy trying to playfully climb on their backs. For a short while, the girls allowed him to roll on their back but when he began to sit on them, they grew tired of his game they stood up and chased him off. Esoit then settled down to roll near Kerrio and they all enjoyed a couple more minutes of throwing dust around before rejoining the rest of the herd.
Lodo and Tingai seem to have a growing friendship and they have very similar characters, both being gentle and quiet bulls. During the day, they will often head off together to browse near one another and keep each other company as the rest of the herd remains together. Although they really enjoy browsing together, neither of them has any great interest in wrestling.
As always little Kerrio continued to be doted upon by all the older girls in the Nursery herd. Today, she was accompanied by Olorien, Kindani, Kinyei, and Naleku — everywhere she went, her entourage followed.
Oldepe and Roho were very early risers today. Both bulls were wide awake before 6am, rumbling to each other from their stockades and feasting on their leftover greens. They were being so noisy, banging at their gates, that they started to wake up the entire Nursery herd. Neshsahi, Naleku, Olorien, Kindani, Kinyei, Esoit, Lodo and Bondeni were amongst the first to wake up, trying to see what all the commotion was about. As a result, the Keepers let out Roho and Oldepe first and as they bulls came walking out, Lodo, Neshashi, and Olorien yelled out trying to grab their attention.
Once they were all let out of their stockades, they all went bush bashing through the bushes that were right near the stockade compound. All of them were full of energy rumbling and trumpeting in excitement. They were all ready to start their day and once the rest of the herd had awoken, they went charging out to the forest, and all you could hear were these joyful trumpets echoing through the woods.
After their 9 o’clock milk feed, Mukutan and Choka enjoyed a playful moment on the dust mound. They were having so much fun chasing each other up and down the dust mound and rolling about as they covered their bodies in dust. Unfortunately for them, Kinyei was being a bit of a disciplinarian today and she came over to break them up and usher them back to the herd. Once they were back with the herd, they all settled down to browse.
Shortly after the orphans settled down in the forest, Taabu was being very naughty, chasing after Latika. Taabu was trying to climb on her back, but Latika was having none of it and she kept running away, so their game turned into a game of cat and mouse. Latika kept trying to hide behind bushes, but Taabu kept on finding her and then chasing her even further. Every time he would find her, Latika would let out a little trumpet and then start running again.
Most days, Roho and Oldepe will try to chase after Naleku, Olorien, or Kindani to playfully climb on their backs. It is a game the younger bulls have clearly picked up. The older girls, however, are far more capable of standing up for themselves, so often Roho and Oldepe’s attempts are in vain, as the girls end up wrestling them away.
it was another chilly morning, with some scattered showers, so the Keepers kept the orphans in their stables a little bit longer, waiting for the morning to warm up. As the Keepers were finally escorting the orphans out to the forest, it started to rain once more, and the orphans were very reluctant to head further afield. Tingai, Lodo, Olorien, Kamili, Choka, Kerrio, Kinyei, and Latika took even longer to follow the herd, but the Keepers let them quietly follow from behind. Once in the forest, the orphans were slightly protected from the showers, so they all stayed close together browsing and keeping each other warm.
Down at the mud bath, after the orphans downed their midday bottles of milk, many of the orphans enjoyed a dust bath whereas some of the others enjoyed a wrestling match or two. As soon as they finished their bottles, Naleku, Roho, and Olorien walked straight over to the dust mound and began to roll around and play mount on each other’s backs as they threw dust around. Whilst they were busy, Bondeni and Esoit engaged each other in a wrestling match. They were later joined by Roho who also wanted to wrestle. Once the girls left the dust mound, the boys charged over to enjoy their own dust bath. The midday mud bath was just filled with orphans enjoying sporadic dust baths.
Oldepe woke up in a very bad mood this morning. This was a contrast to the rest of the Nursery herd, which had all woken up in great moods, happily greeting one another. As soon as Oldepe stepped out of his stockade, he didn’t want to be greeted by anyone and just pushed everyone around, chasing them away from him. Taabu chose to engage Roho in a wrestling match. Roho, who is so much bigger than Taabu, played very gently with the young bull. Neshashi tried to go over and greet her friend Oldepe, but she too got shunned, so whole Nursery herd left him to figure himself out.
Despite being a very quiet girl, Kamili has a very naughty side to her personality. During some of the Nursery’s visits, she is always very reluctant to be greeted by any of the visitors, and if they try to get close to her, she tries to push them aside, so the Keepers always stand beside her to ensure she is at ease. In the forest, she really enjoys spending time with Lodo, Tingai, and Latika, as they are all so gentle and all enjoy each other’s company.
Once again at the midday mud bath, Bondeni was in one of his mischievous moods. As soon as he finished his bottles of milk, he immediately tried to charge through the cordoned area so he could head off into the forest bush bashing. The visitors are always so entertained by his antics, cheering him on. and he certainly enjoys all the attention. The Keepers have grown so used to his naughty habits that they are now always prepared and waiting for him to do something. As he was trying to charge off, the Keepers blocked his path, forcing him to remain within the mud bath area.
Little Mzinga and her friends have recently started coming down the mud bath with the rest of the Nursery herd. Most days, as soon as she has finished her milk bottle Mzinga will either head over to the dust mound or mud bath, where she rolls around and plays. The Keepers love to see the younger orphans growing in confidence and enjoying fun times like these with the older orphans. She is such a friendly and gentle little girl, so she has slotted into the Nursery herd so well. Olorien, Kindani, and Kinyei have been doting up this little girl and her friends, making sure no one disturbs them. Like always, Naleku remains ever committed to Kerrio.